Small businesses are the backbone of every country. They produce jobs, come up with new ways of doing old things, and help keep money in the local community. Without small businesses, we’d be in a bigger economic mess. There’s misperception between the terms Small-Business Owner and Entrepreneur. Both can have small businesses, but they have different styles of leadership and thoughts on running their industry. One is not better than the other, they’re just different. Entrepreneurs take much bigger risks than business owners. Entrepreneurs and business owners have a different relationship with their companies. Entrepreneurs view their companies as assets…something to be established shaped and readied for market.

Small Scale Business Owner

The proprietor of a small-scale business organizes corporate processes and incurs the risks of running an operation based on the prospect to make a company profitable, similar to what the SBA states an entrepreneur does. The SBA offers the same services to small-scale business owners who qualify for financing. In fact, by virtue of the agency’s name, its job is to assist small business owners in accomplishing their goals. Though, small business owners could be viewed as owner-operators, meaning they focus on sales rather than business development, they’re apprehensive more about functional steps instead of strategic growth.

1. About 50% of small businesses fail in the first four years.

2. 76% of small business proprietors report facing marketing challenges. The growth of online marketing has increased the intricacy small business owners have to face when advertising their companies.

3. Private companies continue to be the life blood of every economy.

4. For a business with less than 5,000 employees, the average employee base is 13 people.

5. Small business owners are getting older. 51% of small business owners are over 50 years old, while only 16% are under 35.

6. For employees, there are often very tangible benefits of moving to a larger industry. Employees at businesses with over 100 employees make 31% more than employees at sub 100 businesses, on average.

7. The convolution of financial accounts has changed the way we operate. More than 50% of small businesses now have a CFO or controller managing their accounts.

8. In 2014, the IRS evaluated $2.1 billion in civil penalties against business income tax filers.

9. Of the 1.09 million penalties assessed by the IRS, 47% were for delinquent payments while less than 0.5% was for impreciseness.

10. Only four out of every ten new entrepreneurs are women. This is a gap that has widened slightly since 1996.

How Small Business Owners differ from others

1. Small-business owners have a great idea: They resolve a problem in their community. They know their business and target spectators. They know what will make their clients happy. They serve their customers.

2. Small-business owners hold steady: They like to know what’s coming next and where it’s coming from. They make calculated verdicts based on bookkeeping where the outcome is clear. The result may not be huge, but it will usually keep them moving forward.

3. Small-business owners think about the things they need to finish this week: They have daily and weekly to-do lists. They manage work forces, work with customers, network with new customers, and keep everything rocking and rolling.

4. Small-businesses owners are emotional with their businesses: They never plan on selling or handing their business off to someone else, unless it’s family. They like making the decisions and running the day-to-day decisions and tasks.

Final Note

To the entrepreneurial novice, being an entrepreneur or a small business owner is interchangeable. But, they are not the same. Sure, they are both self-employed, and need to make money (regardless of how they spend it). Almost each and every country needs small-business owners to hold the economy and entrepreneurs to propel it forward.

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